The Hamlet Fire

by Bryant Simon

  32.“The President’s Anti-Inflation Program,” Box 5, Folder, Special Advisor—Inflation Kahn, “Anti-Inflation—Brochure, 6/79–8/79,” Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, GA.

  33.Dominic Sandbrook, Mad as Hell: The Crisis of the 1970s and the Rise of the Populist Right (New York: Knopf, 2011), 333.

  34.Perlstein, The Invisible Bridge, 560.

  35.Seth S. King, “Labor Dept. Proposes Voluntary Worker Safety Plans,” New York Times, January 19, 1982; and Charlotte Montgomery, “Pressure to Scrap Key U.S. Health Laws Forecast,” The Globe and Mail, May 26, 1981.

  36.Douglas Kneeland, “A Summary of Reagan’s Positions on the Major Issues of This Year,” New York Times, July 16, 1980.

  37.Robert Collins, Transforming America: Politics and Culture During the Reagan Years (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 81.

  38.Jules Tygiel, Ronald Reagan and the Triumph of American Conservatism (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005), 124.

  39.On the record of Donovan’s firm, Schiavone Construction, including its OSHA fines and infractions, see Warren Brown and Philp J. Hilts, “Labor’s Nominee’s Firm Has Mixed OSHA Record,” Washington Post, December 23, 1980. See also Philip J. Hilts, “OSHA Has Fears Successor Will Kill Rules,” Washington Post, November 23, 1980; and Susan Garland, “OSHA’s New Tack: Letting Firms Design OWN Ways to Deal with Safety,” Christian Science Monitor, August 20, 1981.

  40.See quotes (and some background) from Michael A. Verespej, “OSHA Shuffles Deck on Health Standards,” Industry Week, April 20, 1981; and David Pauly, “Reagan’s War on Regulation,” Newsweek, April 20, 1981. On fines faced by Auchter’s company, see Joann S. Lublin, “Choice to Head OSHA Is Thorne Auchter, A Proponent of Less Federal Regulation,” Wall Street Journal, February 12, 1981. See also “A Construction Executive Is Picked to Head OSHA,” Chemical Week, February 18, 1981; and Michael Verespej, “OSHA: Under New Management,” Industry Week, November 2, 1981.

  41.On Auchter’s response to the pamphlet, see “Towards a ‘Neutral’ Role for OSHA,” New York Times, March 29, 1981. Quote from the factory inspector is from Simon, “Reagan in the Workplace,” 2. See also Fred Barbash, “OSHA Will Seek to Relax Rules on Cotton Dust,” Washington Post, March 27, 1981; and Fred Barbash, “OSHA to Review Work-Exposure Rules,” Washington Post, March 28, 1981.

  42.Peter Behr, “Reagan Team Takes Stock of Prospects for Reshaping Regulations,” Washington Post, February 6, 1981.

  43.Douglas D. Feaver, “In a Turnabout, States Find Things Easier Under OSHA,” Washington Post, October 21, 1981; Peter Earley, “OSHA Shift Means Cutbacks in Its Inspections,” Washington Post, February 3, 1982; John Conway, “Fed Took No Action Despite N.C. Safety Violations,” Greensboro News and Record, September 20, 1991; Simon, “Reagan in the Workplace,” 9, 11, 33, 46; and Noble, Liberalism at Work.

  44.Richard Lacayo, “Price of Neglect,” Time, September 28, 1992. On increased injuries during the 1980s, see Cass Peterson, “Injuries Unreported, Unions Say,” Washington Post, March 20, 1987; and Frank Swoboda, “‘Unbearable Pain’ on the Job,” Washington Post, October 25, 1988.

  45.“Policy Resolutions, November 1981,” p. 73, AFL-CIO Records, AFL-CIO Bound Pamphlets, RG-34-002, Box 23, Folder 30, Special Collections, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

  46.Sandra Evans Teeley, “OSHA Under Siege,” Washington Post, April 12, 1981.

  47.Martin Tolchin, “Nader Says OSHA Is Shackled,” New York Times, September 5, 1983; and Simon, “Reagan in the Workplace,”10.

  48.On the politics of North Carolina in the 1980s, see John Hood, Catalyst: Jim Martin and the Rise of North Carolina Republicans (Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair Publishers, 2015).

  49.Jerry Adams, “The Bad Boy of State Politics,” We the People (October 1979): 32.

  50.For more on Brooks, see C.E. Yandle, “Fire Creates Furor About Inspections—Brooks Cites Growing Lack of Staff,” Raleigh News and Observer, September 7, 1991; Van Denton, “Hamlet Fire Puts Brooks Squarely in the Limelight,” Raleigh News and Observer, September 17, 1991; and Greg Trevor and John Drescher, “N.C. Champion of Worker Safety Takes a Lashing, Gives It Back,” Charlotte Observer, September 16, 1991.

  51.For one of his requests see, John C. Brooks, N.C. Department of Labor, Requests for Appropriation Changes for the Fiscal Year 1978–1979, January 13, 1978, Box 174, Folder, B, Industrial Development, Division of Industrial Commission, James B. Hunt Papers, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. See also, New Release, John R. Brooks, “State on OSHA Fund Reversions,” September 13, 1991, Box 7, Folder—Hamlet, NC, Imperial Foods, UFCW Local 204, GSU, Atlanta, GA.

  52.Van Denton, “Wreath, Blame Placed at State’s Doors—Luring Businesses to State Fosters Lack of Safety Concern, Some Say,” Raleigh News and Observer, September 7, 1991. On the total number of workers in the state in 1980 and 1990, see Joseph Menn, “N.C. Labor Official Puts Blame on Legislature,” Charlotte Observer, September 6, 1991. For more on the number of safety and health inspectors, see “After the Fire: A Review of the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Program,” October 15, 1991, Box 7, Folder—Hamlet, NC, Imperial Foods, UFCW Local 204, GSU, Atlanta, GA.

  53.“North Carolina OSHA in Violation,” December 2, 1988, Box 35, Folder, NCOSH Advisory Council, NCOSHP, SHC, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC.

  54.Jennifer F. Parker, Joseph Menn, and Kevin O’Brien, “Inspection Need Overwhelms Tiny NC Staff,” Charlotte Observer, n.d, in author’s possession; Yandle, “Fire Creates Furor.”

  55.Paul Taylor, “Ashes and Accusations,” Washington Post, September 5, 1991; John Conway, “Labor Department Under Fire for Inspector Ratio,” Greensboro News and Record, September 8, 1991; and Leonard Larsen, “Government’s ‘Dead Hand’ Can Save Lives,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 13, 1991.

  56.John Drescher, “State Hadn’t Checked Plant for Violations,” Charlotte Observer, September 4, 1991.

  57.Paul Taylor, “City Officials Urge Criminal Probe of Safety Lapses at Fatal Fire Scene,” Washington Post, September 7, 1991; “The Horrors of Hamlet,” Washington Post, September 7, 1991; Joseph Menn and Kevin O’Brien, “N.C. Labor Official Puts Blame On Legislature,” Charlotte Observer, September 6, 1991; and C.E. Yandle, “Brooks Cites Budget Constraints,” Raleigh News and Observer, September 19, 1991.

  58.On Brooks, see Adams, “The Bad Boy of State Politics”; Yandle, “Fire Creates Furor;” and Van Denton, “Hamlet Fire Puts Brooks Squarely in the Limelight,” Raleigh News and Observer, September 17, 1991. Author interviews with John Drescher and Ruth Sheehan.

  59.John Drescher, “In Hamlet Fire, Government Safety Gave Way,” Charlotte Observer, September 22, 1991. On the USDA, see author interview with William Morris.

  60.Department of Labor Investigation, miscellaneous interviews, in author’s possession.

  61.On the relationship between management and the USDA, see author interview with Georgia Quick.

  62.Department of Labor Investigation, USDA investigator, p. 15, in author’s possession.

  63.Albert Shanker, “The Hamlet, N.C., Fire: A Postmortem,” The New Republic, February 17, 1992, 27.

  64.First quote can be found in Les Leopold, “Recent Explosion Reveals Fatal Double Standard for Workers,” Alternet.com, February 20, 2008, available at www.alternet.org/story/77353/recent_explosion_reveals_fatal_double_standard_for_workers; and the second in Simon, “Reagan in the Workplace,” 9.

  65.A number of workers recalled the changes taking place on the shop floor; see for examples author interviews with Ada Blanchard, Martin Quick, and Georgia Quick.

  66.Susan Garland, “OSHA’s New Tack.”

  67.William Serrin, “After Years of Decline, Sweat Shops Are Back,” New York Times, October 12, 1983. See also Loomis, Out of Sight, 66–67.

  68.Author interview with Mark Schultz. Nationally, see Loomis, Out of Sight, 66–70.

  69.“State Inspectors Visited Ice Cream Plant Three Times,” Richmond County Daily Journal, November 24, 19
91; Van Denton, “Low Funds Blamed for OSHA’s Woes,” Raleigh News and Observer, December 3, 1991.

  70.Correspondence between Avery and Hair, re. OSHA Complaint No. 70816616, attached to letter from Chanel Brown to Bryant Simon, October 15, 2015, in author’s possession.

  71.Hamlet City Council Regular Meeting Minutes, June 18 1991, Hamlet City Hall, Hamlet, NC.

  72.“Testimony by Conester Williams,” June 23, 1992, NCOSHP, SHC, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC.

  73.Department of Labor Investigation, Interview # 4, p. 16, in author’s possession. “Preliminary Report: A Closer Look at NC OSHA, Summary, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, November 14, 1987,” Box 31, Folder—11/87, NCOSHP Preliminary Report, North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Project, SCH, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC.

  74.On the relationship between the Roes and USDA men, author interviews with William Morris and Ada Blanchard. On the USDA men’s routines, see also Department of Labor Investigation, with USDA Inspector, in author’s possession.

  75.LaGuana Gray noticed a similar mind-set among the workers she studied; see her book, We Just Keep Running the Line: Black Southern Women and the Poultry Processing Industry (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2014), 157.

  76.Lacayo, “Price of Neglect.”

  77.Simon, “Reagan in the Workplace,” 47.

  78.On the similarities between Martin and Hunt, see Paul Luebke, Tar Heel Politics: Myths and Realities (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990); and Tom Eamon, The Making of a Southern Democracy: North Carolina Politics from Kerr Scott to Pat McCrory (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014), 217, 285. Author interview with John Drescher. For more on Martin, see Hood, Catalyst.

  79.Press Release, James G. Martin, September 11, 1991; and “Log of Events Transcribed by Lynn B. Gilliam, September 18–19, 1991,” Box, Imperial Fire, Hamlet City Hall, Hamlet, NC; “Governor Outlines Plans to Improve Workplace Safety,” James Martin Papers, Office of General Counsel, Box 61, Folder—Department of Labor, OSHA, Hamlet Fire, 1991; and on “federal intrusion,” Martin to Elizabeth Dole, Secretary of Labor, March 6, 1990, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. On the recruitment of Imperial, Governor Martin Papers, Governor’s Press Office, Press Conference Transcript, 1985–1991, Box 7, Folder—Press Conference Transcript, September 9, 1991; Kevin O’Brien, “Martin Questions Need for More Inspectors,” Charlotte Observer, n.d.; Chief of Staff, Special Files, Box 43, Folder Labor/Audit, Martin Papers, North Carolina Department of Labor, Raleigh, NC. Author interview with Mike Okun.

  80.John Hechinger, “Fire’s Legacy: Sweeping Change,” Charlotte Observer, September 8, 1991.

  81.“Chicken Processors Fines,” Washington Post, January 29, 1992.

  82.Mark Barrett, “Hamlet Plant Fire Shines Spotlight on Labor Race,” Asheville Citizen Times, April 26, 1992. See also an assessment of the legal changes produced by the fire, Emily Kuo, “Occupational Safety and Health in North Carolina: Before and After the Fire” (Honors Thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1994).

  7: Endings

  1.Fran Arrington, “Dobbins Heights, Hamlet Worlds Apart,” Raleigh News and Observer, December 9, 1991.

  2.This information comes from Arrington, “Dobbins Heights.”

  3.For more information on the community’s history and Pastor Jim Dobbins, see Keith Parsons, “Town’s History Began Long Before It Was Incorporated in 1984,” Richmond County Daily Journal, n.d., Vertical File, Dobbins Heights, Richmond County Historical Society, Rockingham, NC; and “The Town That’s Moving Forward,” available at www.dobbinsheights.com/town-history.

  4.Channie McManus, “A Brief History of the Dobbins Heights Community,” n.d.; and Parsons, “Town’s History Began.”

  5.Author interview with Calvin White.

  6.Arrington, “Dobbins Heights,” and Jack Yates, “Chicken Processing Plant Fires, Hamlet North Carolina (September 3, 1991), North Little Rock Arkansas (June 7, 1991),” (Washington, DC: Federal Emergency Management Agency), available at www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/tr-057.pdf.

  7.Author interviews with Frankie Moree, Gus Bellamy, and Calvin White. For more on how the fire was fought that morning, see Yates, “Chicken Processing Plant Fires”; “Testimony from Robin Leviner,” and typed sheet, “Imperial Plant Fire, Hamlet, North Carolina, September 3, 1991: Sequence of Events,” Box, Imperial Fire, Folder, Fatalities Imperial, Hamlet City Hall, Hamlet, NC.

  8.Tom MacCallum, “Hamlet Fire Chief Disputes Charges of Discrimination,” Richmond County Daily Journal, September 5, 1991.

  9.Documentary, Our Jobs, Our Lives: A Work in Progress (Black Workers for Justice, 1991), available at American University Library, Washington, DC.

  10.“Carolina Poultry Plant Inferno,” Workers Vanguard, September 13, 1991.

  11.Arrington, “Dobbins Heights.”

  12.“Carolina Poultry Plant Inferno,” and Arrington, “Dobbins Heights.”

  13.MacCallum, “Hamlet Fire Chief Disputes Charge.”

  14.Hamlet Meeting, n.d., Box 35, Folder, Hamlet Organizing Contacts, NCOSHP, SCH, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC. Mayor Abbie Covington backed Fuller’s decision to keep the Dobbins Heights Fire Department on standby, see “Log of Events Transcribed by Lynn B. Gilliam,” September 18–19, 1991,” Box, Imperial Foods, Hamlet City Hall, Hamlet, NC.

  15.Our Jobs, Our Lives.

  16.Author interviews with Ruth DeRosa and Annette Zimmerman. See also author interview with Stephen Frye. Representatives of the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Project heard similar charges of racism against the fire department at a meeting in Hamlet after the fire. See Hamlet Meeting, n.d., Box 35, Folder, Hamlet Organizing Contacts, NCOSHP, SHC, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC. It came up again when Jesse Jackson visited town. “Jackson: Keep Striving for Safe Workplace,” Charlotte Observer, November 26, 1991.

  17.Hamlet City Council Regular Meeting, September 10, 1991, Hamlet City Hall, Hamlet, NC.

  18.Author interviews with Martha Barr and Berry Barbour. On City Lights, see Letter to the Editor from David Andrews, “Anger over the Fire,” Richmond County Daily Journal, October 13, 1991.

  19.Dannye Romine, “Passing Days,” Charlotte Observer, September 6, 1991.

  20.Author interview with Berry Barbour. Miscellaneous Papers from Ministerial Alliance sent to author by Reverend James Bailey, in author’s possession.

  21.See an accounting of the ministerial group’s spending in Rev. James Bailey, Disaster Relief Fund Treasurer, January 28, 1992, Box 33, Folder, Correspondence, NCOSHP, SHC, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC. See also Karl Stark, “Sudden Horror of Fatal Fire Overwhelms Tiny N.C. Town,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 8, 1991; Peter Kilborn, “In the Aftermath of Deadly Fire, A Poor Town Struggles,” New York Times, November 25, 1991; “Log of Events Transcribed by Lynn B. Gilliam, September 18–19, 1991,” Box, Imperial Fire, Hamlet City Hall, Hamlet, NC; and “Coors Relief Fund to Aid Imperial Victims,” Richmond County Daily Journal, October 1, 1991. See also pictures of donations being delivered in Richmond County Daily Journal, September 26, 30, October 21, 1991. On the Christmas party, see Hamlet City Council Regular Meeting Minutes, December 10, 1991, Hamlet City Hall, Hamlet, NC. Author interviews with Covington and Barbour.

  22.Author interview with Covington.

  23.On what happened between Brad Roe and Liberty Mutual and the flow of information, see author interview with Martha Barr. On some snags encountered getting Imperial officials to hand over the needed materials, see “Log of Events Transcribed by Lynn B. Gilliam, September 18–19, 1991,” Box, Imperial Fire, Hamlet City Hall, Hamlet, NC. According to this record, Brad Roe provided access to application files with addresses, zip codes, phone numbers, SSNs, DOB, and contact persons, but when asked for additional information, he reportedly said, according to the log cited above, “Sorry, but all our personnel records have been taken to GA by the Workman’s Comp carrier, insurance carrier.” This, by the way, constituted a violation of OSHA policy. Records of workpl
ace injuries were supposed to be stored on-site.

  24.For an explanation of worker’s compensation benefits, see Glenn Sumpter, “Officials Issue Conflicting Statements,” Richmond County Daily Journal, September 5, 1991. See also author interview with Martha Barr.

  25.The above paragraphs are drawn from author interviews with Martha Barr. Martha Barr, “A Love Song to Hamlet,” lyrics and tape in author’s possession thanks to Barr.

  26.Author interview with DeRosa. See also “Post-Fire Stress Studied in Hamlet,” Charlotte Observer, December 19, 1991.

  27.“Log of Events Transcribed by Lynn B. Gilliam, September 18–19, 1991,” Box, Imperial Fire, Hamlet City Hall, Hamlet, NC.

  28.“Blaze in Chicken Factory Plant Smolders for Survivors,” Chicago Tribune, September 14, 1992.

  29.Ruth R. DeRosa, “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Subjective Experience of Disaster: The Hamlet Fire,” (PhD dissertation in psychology, Duke University, 1994), 38.

  30.DeRosa, “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” 38–39; and author interview with Annette Zimmerman.

  31.Wil Haygood, “Still Burning: After a Deadly Fire, a Town’s Losses Were Just Beginning,” Washington Post, November 10, 2002. Author interview with DeRosa; and email, Ruth DeRosa to author, June 3, 2015.

  32.Author interview with Lisa Amaya-Jackson. Testimony about Terrell Quick from Kemlite Video, Charles Becton Files, in author’s possession. See also Ben Stocking, “Shock and Suffering Are Etched Forever on Hamlet’s Soul,” Raleigh News and Observer, September 8, 1991; and Joe Drape, “Pain Smolders Long After Fatal NC Plant Fire,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, January 19, 1992.

  33.Haygood, “Still Burning.”

  34.Ben Stocking, “Some Scars Are Slow to Heal,” Raleigh News and Observer, December 11, 1991.

  35.John S. March, Lisa Amaya-Jackson, Robert Terry, and Philip Costanzo, “Posttraumatic Symptomatology in Children and Adolescents After an Industrial Fire,” Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 36 (August 1997), 1080–88. See also, for an overview of PTSD diagnosis and research, Matthew J. Friedman, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Salt Lake City, UT: Compact Clinicals, 2003).